Former energy minister Deepak Khadka’s company, Khadka Land Development Pvt Ltd, has paid rent for land belonging to Nepal Scouts located in Lainchaur, Kathmandu.
The company informed the Kathmandu District Court that it has paid a total of Rs 73.46 million for the period since August 31, 2021.
According to details obtained by Setopati, the company has paid Rs 24.22 million in five installments after the Gen Z movement of September 8 and 9.
The company submitted details of the payments made to the Kathmandu District Court on January 20.
Khadka Land Development also told the court that it paid Rs 9.23 million to the government as tax deducted at source (TDS) and deposited Rs 6.22 million as a security deposit.
Khadka Land Development had been conducting business for a long time after leasing three ropanis of land and two buildings owned by Nepal Scouts in Lainchaur. The company had constructed and been operating a party palace on the land.
Khadka is a leader of the Nepali Congress.
What is the land lease dispute involving Khadka Land and Nepal Scouts?
Scouting in Nepal was launched by King Tribhuvan. In 1952, he hoisted the Scout flag by organizing a grand ceremony at the Narayanhiti Royal Palace. The king not only started the Scouts but also provided 24.5 ropanis of land under the palace's ownership for their use.
Before the Scouts occupied the land in Lainchaur, the palace had been using it as a horse stable. Even today, remains of the buildings constructed for the stables exist on that land.
In 1961, Nepal Scouts registered the 24.5 ropanis of land in its own name and constructed its building too.
Growing under the patronage of the palace, Nepal Scouts added another building in Lainchaur for office purposes in 1973. Having acquired land connected to the main road, the Scouts constructed two buildings between 2005 and 2008 specifically for rental purposes to raise funds.
Khadka Land Development Pvt Ltd leased both these buildings. This is how the company became associated with Nepal Scouts.
In 2007, the Scouts issued a notice to lease 3 ropanis of land, which was previously a pond for washing horses. A company named United Traders won the contract by bidding the highest amount according to the notice. However, United Traders did not come forward to sign the agreement. After United Traders failed to show, the second-highest bidder, Khadka’s company, Khadka Land Development Pvt Ltd, was awarded the contract. Before awarding the contract, the then-chief commissioner of Scouts, Shreeram Lamichhane, held negotiations with Khadka Land. Lamichhane persuaded the company—which had already leased two buildings—to pay a higher rent than what United Traders had proposed.
Thus, Khadka Land Development Pvt Ltd entered the three-ropani plot in Lainchaur.
The agreement was signed in 2007, but the effective date was mentioned as two years later, in 2009. Consequently, Khadka Land built a party palace in Lainchaur in 2008.
The agreement stipulated that whatever structures Khadka Land built on those 3 ropanis of land, they would have to be removed at the end of the lease term.
Initially, Khadka Land and Nepal Scouts had a good relatioship. The company paid rent regularly. As a result, the company secured the lease for both buildings—originally leased in 2005 and 2009—for an additional 10 years through tenders in 2015 and 2019.
Although it initially built a party palace on 3 ropanis, two years later, Khadka’s company occupied 5 ropanis by adding new structures. It further used an additional 1.5 ropanis for vehicle parking. Thus, starting from 3 ropanis, the company ended up occupying more than 7 ropanis of Nepal Scouts land in Lainchaur.
After the company used more land than agreed upon, the dispute reached the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). The CIAA ordered the demolition of structures built on the excess land, but the order was not implemented.
As the lease expiry date for the party palace land neared, the rift between the two parties grew. Initially, Khadka Land wrote a letter requesting a renewal, noting that the lease for the 3-ropani plot was set to expire in mid-August 2019. However, Scouts Chief Commissioner, Rabin Dahal, corresponded stating that the lease term could not be extended and asking the company to vacate the land. Despite the Scouts' refusal to renew the contract, the company remained defiant. Despite repeated correspondences from Nepal Scouts, Energy Minister Khadka did not remove the party palace.
Instead, Khadka’s company moved the Kathmandu District Court, claiming that their contract was for 15 years rather than 10. Amid this dispute, the government dissolved the Scouts executive committee led by Rabin Dahal. Subsequently, Chandan Kaushik was appointed as the head of an ad-hoc committee formed to hold elections, and Keshav Bohara took charge as the office chief.
During this period, Khadka’s company, which claimed to have leased the land for 15 years, won the case, despite the agreement explicitly stating 10 years. Khadka’s company had even previously sent a letter for renewal, mentioning that the 10-year term was ending.
The reason Khadka Land won the case in court was due to the misconduct and errors of Nepal Scouts employees. In 2011, while recording the details of leased lands in the minutes of the Nepal Scouts council meeting, the lease term was recorded as 15 years starting on August 17, 2009.
Because of this clerical "error" in writing the minutes, Khadka Land was able to present itself as blameless in court. The minutes were verified during office chief Bohara's tenure and provided to the company. Thus, per the court order, the lease term was established as 15 years.
In 2020, leadership changed at Nepal Scouts. Lok Bahadur Bhandari became the chief commissioner. Shortly after his arrival, Bhandari filed an appeal at the Patan High Court against the Kathmandu District Court's order. He argued that the contract period was 10 years and that the agreement had already ended. After nearly three and a half years, the Patan High Court ruled in favor of the Scouts, stating that the agreement term was indeed 10 years. The district court's decision establishing a 15-year term was overturned.
Even after the high court overturned the decision in 2022, Minister Khadka’s company again refused to vacate the land. Nepal Scouts published a 35-day public notice in the Gorkhapatra daily, but the company did not clear the land. In the meantime, the company stopped paying rent regularly.
Once regular rent payments ceased, Nepal Scouts began imposing fines at a rate of Rs 250 per day as per the agreement. The fine for the first day was 250; the next day it became 500; and with that day's delay, it reached 750. In this manner, Nepal Scouts calculated the fines using compound logic.
Despite Nepal Scouts’ demands for rent, Khadka’s company ignored them and continued to earn income by leasing out the party palace. After Rabi Lamichhane became home minister in April 2024, he intervened in the dispute. Under Lamichhane’s direction, the District Administration Office, Kathmandu, sealed the party palace.
Following the administration's intervention in April 2024, Khadka Land Development decided to vacate the Scouts land and sent a letter stating the agreement was terminated. However, the rent dispute remained unresolved.
On November 13 last year, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City bulldozed the party palace built by Khadka Land. The metropolis removed the structures at the request of the Ministry of Sports.
The ministry had given Khadka Land seven days to pay the rent arrears. Within a few days of this ultimatum, Khadka Land paid Rs 5 million on November 18. Following that, it paid Rs 2.5 million on December 2, Rs 5 million on December 12, and Rs 9.22 million on December 14.
Khadka Land has now provided the district court with information regarding these payments of rental arrears.
